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Coastal Little League 11U team prepares to host state tournament

Special to Bryan County Now The Coastal Little League 11U all-star team will be hosting the state tournament beginning Saturday and running through July 21 at the South Bryan Recreation Department. The Wildcats open pool play Saturday at 1 p.m.

Scott Thompson/Bryan County Now Coastal Little League shortstop Carson Mason turns a double play during Tuesday's practice.

Scott Thompson/Bryan County Now Coastal Little League third baseman Brandon Schwier makes a throw to first base during Tuesday's practice.

Scott Thompson/Bryan County Now Coastal Little League 11-U all star Teddy Rovolis makes a play at first base during a team practice on Tuesday.

When it comes to Little League Baseball in Georgia during the past decade, the two unquestionable powerhouse leagues have been Columbus and Warner Robins. Scott Karnibad and other Richmond Hill-based Coastal Little League coaches have spent the last couple of years grooming their teams to one day emulate the success of those programs — both of which have world championships at the annual Little World Series in Williamsport, Pa., under their belts.

Karnibad’s all-star team will get to see just how far it’s come this weekend as the Wildcats host the nine other district champions from Georgia in the state 11-U Little League tournament beginning Saturday at the South Bryan Recreation Department.

Coastal Little League clinched a spot in the tournament when it swept Toombs County in a best-of-three series (14-4 and 20-10) on June 30 in Glenville to win the District 9 title.

“This is pretty much our second year together, and it was nice to actually go out and qualify for state by winning on the field,” said Karnibad, whose team earned an automatic bid to the state competition last season because there were no others in the district.

Karnibad’s then 10-U Wildcats finished seventh out of 10 teams in the 2011 tournament in Toccoa but are aiming to improve on that finish this go-around.

“We’ve been practicing four times a week, and every warm-up tournament we’ve gone to, we’ve at least been in the top three or top five,” Karnibad said. “The majority of this team has been playing together for two years now.”

Fueling the most optimism about Coastal’s chances is that more than half of its 10-man roster, along with an alternate, consists of players capable of contributing on the mound. Which is vital because once a pitcher throws 20 pitches in a game, by rule, he must take a day off; the more pitches thrown, the more time off required.

“You’ve got to have a deep pitching staff at this level,” Karnibad said. “We’re playing a lot of games in a compressed amount of time... We’ve got five or six extremely experienced pitchers we can rely on, and I think that’s going to be a big advantage for us.”

The competition level couldn’t be any higher for the Wildcats, which is why Karnibad and other coaches along with league officials decided to restructure their organization to create more depth by having four different leagues — one each for 9-, 10-, 11- and 12-year olds. That approach, Karnibad said, established a reliable feeder program and has helped churn out more experienced players once they move up to the older age groups.

“All of my team, except one player who is playing up, is made up of 11-year-olds, and that makes a huge difference in their development and our success,” he said. “So instead of just having 10 kids playing who are 11 and 12 or 9 and 10, you have 20. It just has helped our program so much in terms of advancing.

“We’ve grown leaps and bounds.”

Following a team banquet Friday evening, opening ceremonies will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday with the first slate of games getting underway at 10 a.m. The tournament ends July 21.

WILDCATS’ POOL PLAY SCHEDULE

July 14, 1 p.m.

July 15, 5 p.m.

July 17, 1 p.m.

July 18, 1 p.m.

The 10 teams are separated into two five-team pools with each team being guaranteed four games. The top two teams from each pool advance to the July 19 semifinals with those winners taking on each other for the championship on July 21.